[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":85},["ShallowReactive",2],{"pages-686bbeedebae028a11644489":3},{"_id":4,"state":5,"name":6,"category":7,"theme":8,"components":9,"keywords":78},"686bbeedebae028a11644489","active"," Fiscal incentives for healthy foods (VAT reductions and HFSS taxes)","discover","european_food_system_dashboard",[10,22,31,38,45,52,60],{"type":11,"index":12,"variation":13,"imageURL":14,"title":15,"description":17,"button":19},"header",0,"image_left","https://planeateu.retool.com/api/file/8acbb2a1-7483-43c5-a3c4-5f587e5f3010",{"en_GB":16},"Combine interventions reducing VAT on vegetables and adding tax on foods high in fat sugar salt (HSSF)",{"en_GB":18},"- Food system activity: Overarching\n- Governance level: National\n- Cluster: Improve nutrition for better health\n- Origin: Pan-EU\n- Type of policy intervention: Financial",{"label":20,"URL":21},{"en_GB":21},"",{"type":23,"index":24,"variation":25,"imageURL":26,"title":27,"description":29},"image_and_text",1,"image_right","https://planeateu.retool.com/api/file/1c0aace6-2325-4a53-96d6-5d50235b85c7",{"en_GB":28},"Intervention Details",{"en_GB":30},"This combined fiscal policy intervention emerged from the pan-European summit and aims to reduce the cost barrier to healthier food choices such as vegetables by lowering VAT, while increasing the price of HSSF foods through targeted taxes. This combination simultaneously pushes and pulls consumers toward healthier diets. It can be defined as an overarching intervention as it covers multiple food system activities, including Retail and markets and Final consumption, and is most often applied at the national level. This intervention combined two previously proposed interventions from the Irish and Greek food policy summit, with Irish participants proposing a VAT lift on vegetables within a larger set of interventions including one of the final 20 interventions on [In-store product placement of healthy and sustainable foods](https://planeatcenter.com/discover/european_food_system_dashboard/686bc53baef7228dc470a3d9), and the Greeks offering the tax on HSSF foods to reduce obesity.",{"type":23,"index":32,"variation":13,"imageURL":33,"title":34,"description":36},2,"https://planeateu.retool.com/api/file/c32b40e5-d2c2-44bb-a1ed-0e0d2ba39795",{"en_GB":35},"Examples of implementation",{"en_GB":37},"While many EU countries do have specific categories of VAT for distinct types of food, lower VAT rates often apply for staple products rather than specifically for healthier food options. Belgium, France, Ireland, Poland, and Spain have introduced health-related taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages, with France having evidence of reduced purchase of taxed products (Capacci et al, 2019). Spain’s sugar tax consists of raising the VAT on sodas from 10 to 21%, whereas other governments have introduced a tax per litre. Hungary has a broader taxation on unhealthy products, called the Public Health Product Tax, which is effective since 2011 and aims to reduce the consumption of products harmful to health, while also encompassing a sugar tax. This tax shows modest reductions in consumption and product reformulation (WHO, 2015).",{"type":23,"index":39,"variation":25,"imageURL":40,"title":41,"description":43},3,"https://planeateu.retool.com/api/file/afec88ea-040b-4549-a51c-f75cc9a63be5",{"en_GB":42},"Key implementation challenges",{"en_GB":44},"Key implementation challenges include defining product categories (e.g., which foods qualify as HSSF or as vegetables) and managing equity implications. For instance, Hagenaars, Fazzino & Mackenbach (2024) highlight the need for very clear food classifications to design effective food tax policies, as the lack of this hindered the Dutch attempt so far to implement reduced VAT on fruits and vegetables. Moreover, while these taxes are generally cost-effective, it is important that policymakers are clear about the goal of a HSSF food tax, as revenue stream of health taxes is less predictable and can thus be criticized (Wright et al., 2017). What can be helpful in implementing these taxes is to earmark their revenues towards health spending (Wright et al., 2017). Political feasibility is also influenced by public perception: taxes perceived as punitive or paternalistic may face opposition, whereas subsidies for healthy foods are more likely to be publicly supported (Dieteren, Bonfrer, Brouwer & van Exel, 2022). Finally, research shows that fiscal measures are more effective when applied as part of a broader strategy in a policy mix, for instance when combined with public education and labelling schemes (Backholer et al., 2016).",{"type":23,"index":46,"variation":13,"imageURL":47,"title":48,"description":50},4,"https://planeateu.retool.com/api/file/b466ae36-722e-4837-9540-cd11b3d71ab9",{"en_GB":49},"Expert Evaluation",{"en_GB":51},"Experts rated the effectiveness of this policy intervention at an average of 3.83/5.00 (SD = 1.19), reflecting a positive assessment and ranked in the top three (3rd out of 20). Respondents attributed this high rating to the broad reach of fiscal measures, their capacity to shift consumer behavior towards healthy and sustainable food, and their potential to promote upstream food system changes. They further emphasized that this intervention could make healthy and sustainable food more affordable, generating positive equity impacts. Nonetheless, expert responses also reflected strong disagreement. They highlighted that price reductions alone may not significantly change consumer behavior when unhealthy foods remain cheap and widely available, as well as difficulties in effectively designing fiscal incentives. Concerns were also raised that, without complementary policies addressing food environments and marketing, the intervention may primarily benefit higher-income groups and its impact on vulnerable groups be limited. The average feasibility score was 3.58/5.00 (SD = 1.06), indicating a moderately positive assessment and ranking 12th overall. While experts pointed out that it is not difficult for policymakers to set VAT changes for certain foods, they also identified political challenges with implementing taxes, especially at sufficiently high levels. Survey respondents identified policy synergies with the interventions “True Cost Accounting-based sustainability tax on food”, “healthy and sustainable criteria in public food procurement” and “consumer awareness campaigns”. ",{"type":53,"index":54,"variation":55,"imageURL":21,"title":56,"description":58},"title_and_text",5,"title_image_description",{"en_GB":57},"List of References",{"en_GB":59},"•\tBackholer, K., Sarink, D., Beauchamp, A., et al. (2016). The impact of a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages according to socio-economic position: A systematic review of the evidence. Public Health Nutrition, 19(17), 3070–3084. [https://doi.org/10.1017/S136898001600104X](https://doi.org/10.1017/S136898001600104X) \n\n•\tCapacci, S., Allais, O., Bonnet, C., et al. (2019). The impact of the French soda tax on prices, purchases, and health: An ex post evaluation. PLoS ONE, 14(10), e0223196. [https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223196](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223196)\n\n•\tDieteren CM, Bonfrer I, Brouwer WBF, van Exel J. Public preferences for policies promoting a healthy diet: a discrete choice experiment. Eur J Health Econ. 2023 Dec;24(9):1429-1440. doi: 10.1007/s10198-022-01554-7 \n\n•\tHagenaars LL, Fazzino TL, Mackenbach JD. Giving fruits and vegetables a tax break: lessons from a Dutch attempt. Public Health Nutr. 2024 Feb 15;27(1):e70. doi: 10.1017/S1368980024000442 \n\n•\tWorld Health Organization. (2015). Assessment of the impact of a public health product tax. Regional Office for Europe. [https://www.euro.who.int/en/publications/abstracts/assessment-of-the-impact-of-a-public-health-product-tax-hungary](https://www.euro.who.int/en/publications/abstracts/assessment-of-the-impact-of-a-public-health-product-tax-hungary)\n\n•\tWright, A., Smith, K. E., & Hellowell, M. (2017). Policy lessons from health taxes: A systematic review of empirical studies. BMC Public Health, 17(1), 583. [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4497-z](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4497-z)",{"type":61,"index":62,"variation":63,"title":64,"contact1":66,"contact2":72,"contact3":75},"contacts",6,"title_top",{"en_GB":65},"CONTACT",{"imageURL":67,"name":68,"description":70},"https://planeateu.retool.com/api/file/771281e8-fca5-4ec7-a45c-0addca312f67",{"en_GB":69},"Jeroen Candel",{"en_GB":71},"Associate professor of food and agricultural policy​",{"imageURL":21,"name":73,"description":74},{"en_GB":21},{"en_GB":21},{"imageURL":21,"name":76,"description":77},{"en_GB":21},{"en_GB":21},[79,80,81,82,83,84],"overarching","national","improve nutrition for better health","pan-EU","financial","policy intervention",1776157871716]